Bosses pay for poor schooling

BUSINESS productivity is being damaged because employers are not helping workers with literacy and numeracy problems. The National Audit Office has estimated that 26m people of working age have literacy and numeracy skills below those expected of school leavers.

The recent skills White Paper included the launch of a national employer training programme to make it easier for businesses to send workers for free maths, reading, writing and other basic vocational training up to NVQ Level Two, which is broadly equivalent to a good pass at GCSE.

Employers complain of skill shortages and that businesses often pay for the failings of the education system. But a recent study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development suggests that employers should look seriously at workers' needs and how much training they get.

Those who have already completed some form of training are more likely to be coached to a higher level than workers who have no skills development, the study points out.

Liam Vickers, 21, does fencing and ground maintenance work for Leicester-based landscaping firm Ground Control, part of construction firm Newlife, but he hated school. His employer has sent him to be trained in subjects such as ground maintenance and landscaping, health and safety and first aid. Now he is ready to take an NVQ.

Liam says: 'It's definitely made me want to stay, though I know I could take these skills somewhere else.'

John Montague, chief executive of Newlife, suggests: 'You need to wrap training into something that is of positive benefit to a person's career.'

Victoria Gill, an adviser to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, argues that workers will find it harder to cope in their jobs without some level of basic skills.

'Even fairly low-level jobs are going to have a much higher requirement for literacy and numeracy than before,' she says. 'Employers can miss a trick if they don't look at basic skills.'

Anita Hallam, group manager of the Learning & Skills Council's Skills for Life programme, says social stigma is often a barrier to training.

Employers should not patronise workers or discourage them from learning and could even include literacy and numeracy skills within health and safety training, she says.